***Official Kansas City Royals @ Minnesota Twins Game Thread (4/15)***

[alnorth]

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
KC (7-1)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	9	1
MIN (2-6)	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	X	3	5	0

Loss, (1-1) Edinson Volquez 7⅔IP 3R 3ER 1BB 7K 1HR
Franklin Morales ⅓IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K

VS.



Win, (1-1) Kyle Gibson 6⅔IP 1R 1ER 0BB 3K
Hold, (1) Brian Duensing ⅓IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K
Hold, (1) Casey Fien 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K
Save, (1) Glen Perkins 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K

Home Runs

KC

none

MIN

Oswaldo Arcia, (1) - Bottom 4th 2-run homer to center

AL Central

Final: CWS 2, CLE 4
Final: DET 1, PIT 0

Starting Lineups

KC

1. Alcides Escobar, SS
2. Mike Moustakas, 3B
3. Lorenzo Cain, CF
4. Eric Hosmer, 1B
5. Kendrys Morales, DH
6. Alex Gordon, LF
7. Salvador Perez, C
8. Omar Infante, 2B
9. Jarrod Dyson, RF

MIN

1. Danny Santana, SS
2. Torii Hunter, RF
3. Joe Mauer, 1B
4. Brian Dozier, 2B
5. Kennys Vargas, DH
6. Trevor Plouffe, 3B
7. Oswaldo Arcia, LF
8. Kurt Suzuki, C
9. Jordan Schafer, CF

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I've done some research the past few days on prediction models and when they will start getting enough data for this season to really update things and outweigh the preseason projection data (which is based on previous years). It's about 45-50 games, depending on the measure.

So it will be mid-May, probably, before we see the projections come around on the Royals and see the playoff odds change/update.

Chris Young was such a sneaky little signing at the end of the ST. What tremendous depth he provides for this rotation. Gotta love having top 100 prospects like Finnegan, Zimmer, Manaea, and Almonte being pushed down to the 7th-8th on the MLB rotation depth chart.

Defense and speed don't rest. Putting the ball in play and putting pressure on the defense doesn't rest.

I'm sure the hitting will fall off as the season goes on, but if they end up hitting even 150 home runs this season, that's a big, big upgrade for the offense over last year.

And we'll see what Volquez does tonight, but early returns on him are pretty great. So I'm fairly confident the rotation suffers little to no drop-off from last year.

The thing about Volquez is ... the dude knows he can get away with mistakes (as long as they stay in the yard) and get outs. Our defense lets pitches pitch with NO PRESSURE. Throw strikes. Stay ahead in counts. Make a mistake? Defense will bail you out (unless it goes yard). If Volquez pitches with command, he can be one of the best in the league. That's scary.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Molitoth

Whats the news on Gore? I can't find any reason for this Tweet?

Gore was called up to fill Rios's slot

[Saul Good]

Do we know yet if Dyson will be in CF with Cain in RF?

Everyone on the radio keeps talking about leaving Cain in CF and pushing for him to win the GG. Hopefully Yost is s arter than that. The GG is the most meaningless award in baseball, and worrying about individual awards is something you do when your team is shit.

[Strongside]

Hootie, serious question. Do you have a job?

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Do we know yet if Dyson will be in CF with Cain in RF?

Everyone on the radio keeps talking about leaving Cain in CF and pushing for him to win the GG. Hopefully Yost is s arter than that. The GG is the most meaningless award in baseball, and worrying about individual awards is something you do when your team is shit.

I would leave Cain in CF because I think he's the superior CF. Dyson can patrol RF and has enough aTm to play there (it's not great, but it's OK).

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I've done some research the past few days on prediction models and when they will start getting enough data for this season to really update things and outweigh the preseason projection data (which is based on previous years). It's about 45-50 games, depending on the measure.

So it will be mid-May, probably, before we see the projections come around on the Royals and see the playoff odds change/update.

.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...articleid=1818

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I would leave Cain in CF because I think he's the superior CF. Dyson can patrol RF and has enough aTm to play there (it's not great, but it's OK).

Why would you do that after seeing how we shifted Cain to RF last year? That worked incredibly well. Grant land called it "The Ultimate Outfield". What's changed?

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/20...-lorenzo-cain/

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Do we know yet if Dyson will be in CF with Cain in RF?

Everyone on the radio keeps talking about leaving Cain in CF and pushing for him to win the GG. Hopefully Yost is s arter than that. The GG is the most meaningless award in baseball, and worrying about individual awards is something you do when your team is shit.

Last year it was an open question who was the better defender, and I think Yost leaned towards Dyson over Cain.

Now, I think the opinion has changed, and we believe Cain is the best OF on the team.

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

Yep. You have to realize, now that Cain is a bona fide superstar, Dyson didn't even have a role on this team other than Kendrys Morales personal runner late in games.

Gore comes up to take that role as Dyson/Orlando platoon in right (with Dyson being the bigger part of that platoon).

Gore is NEVER going to develop into anything other than what he is now ... a 40 man roster September super weapon. He doesn't project as a starting ML'er, ever.

It makes perfect sense.

The only reason we don't flip Dyson for a stud prospect (because he is a 4 WAR guy as an every day OF) is because we are a championship caliber team and we need Cain insurance (and evidently Rios insurance as well), and his speed and defense is an amazing bench weapon and late game weapon for when the games really start to matter (as evidenced by last postseason).

I'm pretty sure we could get a nice haul for Dyson if we attempted to trade him. His WAR speaks for itself. He is a starter on most MLB teams. He's a hell of a player.

Agreed. Dyson is the MLB equivalent of the 6th man of the year

[SPchief]

Originally Posted by Molitoth

Whats the news on Gore? I can't find any reason for this Tweet?

Gore got called up. Mellinger just can't figure out the reason why. For some reason I think he was speculating that it would have been a reliever. I honestly don't know who else they could have brought up. Colon isn't playing, so no infielder, Ned's struggling just to get guys like Chris Young an Morales ANY innings out of the pen so any reliever brought up would just be wasting away out there. Makes total sense to bring up a guy to try and steal a game late if needed

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Why would you do that after seeing how we shifted Cain to RF last year? That worked incredibly well. Grant land called it "The Ultimate Outfield". What's changed?

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/20...-lorenzo-cain/

Nothing changed.

That was my opinion last year as well. I think Cain is a superior CF and should not be moving off of the most important defensive position in the OF for an inferior player.

I think Dyson is a great CF, just not as great as Cain. And it's not like Cain has a tremendously stronger throwing arm (Dyson throws pretty well). We've seen Dyson handle RF already this year, so I don't think it's an issue of him reading the ball off of the bat or anything.

[Hootie]

Originally Posted by Strongside

Hootie, serious question. Do you have a job?

Ha. Yep. Smack dab right in front of a computer, too. I get to work and CP all day long, especially during baseball season.

[RealSNR]

So it will be Dyson today? Orlando is a LF-only guy?

[Hootie]

should be Dyson every single day against a righty (and some lefties)...

question for Duncan: how was Orlando's defense rated in the minors?

[Hootie]

actually a quick google of Paulo Orlando gave me this: Supposedly a very good defender:

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2015/...-paulo-orlando